The Dharma, sutras, and commentarial interpretations of interest to American Buddhists of all traditions with news that not only informs but transforms. Emphasis on meditation, enlightenment, karma, social evolution, and nonharming.
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Live KTLA 5 coverage: Wind-driven Palisades Fire in LA destroys homes
(KTLA 5) BREAKING NEWS: Firefighters are battling a fast-moving wildfire that has destroyed an undetermined number of homes (seaside mansions between the Hollywood studios and Santa Monica Bay) in the very affluent Pacific Palisades area of west Los Angeles. Watch KTLA 5 News team coverage. Liveblog: trib.al/tBDjKJ0
(FOX 11 Los Angeles) Jan. 6, 2025: The NWS said winds will reach "dangerous levels" by Tuesday afternoon, hitting LA and Ventura counties. Meteorologists estimated widespread gusts of 50 to 80 mph, with isolated gusts of 80 to 100 mph across the mountains/foothills possible. Red flag warning in effect.
SoCal sees its 'most destructive windstorm' in over a decade
(ABC7) Jan 7, 2025: Potentially destructive Santa Ana winds will blow through Southern California, elevating fire risk to dangerous levels for the next few days. abc7.com/los-angeles-weather-...Gusts up to 85 MPH, with sustained winds over 40 MPH, continuing for a few days.
Bag of wind visits SoCal to sign bill
We must not let Trump ruin this country like I ruined it, tried not to ruin it, y'know what I mean!
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Is it true you tried to hang me on Jan. 6th?
Meanwhile, the weather is being worsened by a bag of hot air (Genocide Joe Biden) on the loose out there, east of Los Angeles, looking for a photo op as he declares public lands around Joshua Tree National Park a new monument dubbed Chuckwalla. Having arrived yesterday to disrupt the traffic, lame duck Biden is trying to leave a positive environmental legacy on top of all the destruction he has wrought with the U.S. War Machine as an old-timer with decades in Washington, DC, doing nothing to commend him or establish a good reputation.
China Earthquake LIVE: Death toll from powerful earthquake in Tibet reaches 126 | WION LIVE
The wisdom eyes of the Buddha, Nepal
(WION)
Started streaming Jan. 7, 2024: Bhutanhas also been affected. A 6.8-magnitude quake [updated to 7.1] struck China's remote Tibet region on Tuesday morning. [This is disputed territory claimed by an independent Tibet, nibbled at by India, touching Nepal, not far from Bhutan, but invaded and occupied by Chinese forces.] The death toll is rising to at least 53 [at least 126 with at least as many injured], state media is reporting. US media states that a magnitude of 7.1 earthquake jolted China-Nepal border. The earthquake jolted Dingri County in Xigaze City (Shigatse), located in the Xizang(Tibet) Autonomous Region, at 9:05 am local time. In addition to the confirmed fatalities, 62 others have been injured. The powerful tremor has left a trail of destruction, and rescue efforts are underway.
#nepal #china #tibet
Powerful earthquake rocks Tibet and parts of Nepal
Aerial view of Boudhanath, Nepal
(CNN)
Jan. 7, 2025: More than 100 people have been killed after a powerful earthquake struck a remote region of Tibet, with tremors felt across the Himalayas in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of northern India. The 7.1-magnitude quake struck at 9:05 am local time at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) and was followed by multiple aftershocks, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). #CNN #News
China’s Yinchuan hit by 11 earthquakes in 24 hours; millions flee, roads and rails jammed
(China Observer) Jan. 4, 2025: ✪ On Jan. 2 and 3, 2025, Yinchuan in Ningxia, China, experienced 11 earthquakes within 24 hours. The strongest measured 4.8 magnitude. The tremors were also felt in Shaanxi and Gansu. Although the magnitudes were not high, the frequent and widespread quakes, combined with shallow epicenters, led to strong tremors in some areas, causing public panic. Join channel: @chinaobserver0#chinaobserver
The true teachings of Jesus will destroy Christianity as we know it
(Love Covered Life Podcast) Jan. 6, 2025: This is an interview by Melissa Denyce with Aaron Abke about the historical evidence supporting the true teachings of Jesus that have been lost (hidden, suppressed, altered, rewritten) for 2,000 years that could destroy (or at least restructure) Christianity as we know it. Part of what the guest is saying about the addition of animal sacrifice to the earliest Jewish-Christian spiritual texts are revealed in Christspiracy.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction: Challenging Christianity
00:48 The Schism Between Paul and the Disciples
02:09 The Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls
04:48 The Clementine Writings and Early Christian Texts
06:58 Jesus's Opposition to Animal Sacrifices
08:34 The Moses Scroll and Its Implications
14:34 Jesus's Teachings and the Essenes
25:15 Practical Applications of Ancient Teachings
25:34 Contradictions Between Jesus and Paul
34:27 The Misinterpretation of Jesus's Teachings
35:08 Ontological Contradictions in Christian Beliefs
36:06 The Concept of Sin and God's Nature
39:46 Repentance and the Kingdom of Heaven
43:19 Reforming Christianity: A Vision for the Future
45:48 The Historical Shift from Jewish to Gentile Christianity
49:28 The Impact of Paul's Teachings on Christianity
54:12 The True Gospel of Jesus: Love and Repentance
59:00 Final Thoughts: Love God, Love People
NOTE: Love Covered Life Podcast does not endorse any of their guests' products or services. The opinions of the guests may or may not reflect the opinions the host or anyone affiliated with the podcast.
Highly recommended: Aaron Abke's student membership at the link below. This video is not sponsored. I have been a student of Aaron for four years and am currently in his membership. No one breaks down spiritual truths and helps me to embody them like he does, and I would love to see others benefit as well:
4D University: 4duniversity.com. Website: aaronabke.com YouTube: @aaronabke, IG: instagram.com/aaronabke...
*Join to get access to:
Spiritual community
acts of kindness challenge, monthly live events (available for replay). This month's guest is Dr. Edith Ubuntu Chan
Alchemy (Eight-week course to have a guided spiritual awakening):
app.heartbeat.chat/lovecovere...
Trump win certified on Jan. 6th Insurrection anniversary, Canada's Trudeau resigns, and Guillermo vs. Mario Lopez
(Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Jan. 6, 2025: The show is back with a new installment after a long holiday break, people texting their holiday cards instead of mailing them, a rapper named 2 Low was on a podcast called “One on One with Mike D” and they gave us quiet a moment by firing a gun in his pocket, Mario Lopez was handing out tequila shots on the Nikki Glaser Presents the Golden Globes red carpet and Jimmy has a bone to pick about it, the Golden Globes put up little facts about each of the presenters as they walked on stage, we have a new winner for tonight’s award for “Excellence in Reporting,” Canadian Justin Trudeau (who is ogled and crushed on by a healthy Melania) announced that he will step down as prime minister of Canada, Eric Trump turned 41 and Daddy DonDon wrote a very heartfelt post on Truth Social, today is also the fourth anniversary of our Capitol being stormed by the Buffalo Wild Wing of the Republican party, Congress certified DJ’s victory and VP Kamala Harris had to give the official sign off on Trump’s win as sitting VP in charge of Congress, and Jimmy speaks to the “BlueAnon Shaman.” #Kimmel
The previous installment: the last JKL of the Year 2024
Jon Stewart unpacks the NOLA and CyberTruck attacks and an unusually civil Jan. 6th | The Daily Show
(The Daily Show)
Jan. 6, 2025: Jon Stewart kicks off 2025 with an unusually civil Jan. 6th election certification by Kamala and Congress, and right-wing media's desperate attempts to make the Bourbon Street attack about immigration. Plus, Stewart unpacks the eerily normal digital footprints of recent American terrorists from the U.S. military and questions the internet's role in their alleged radicalizations. #DailyShow#JonStewart#Jan6
Epiphany (/əˈpɪfəni/ ə-PIF-ə-nee), also known as "Theophany" in Eastern Christian tradition [5], is a Christian feast day commemorating the visit of the Magi (the Three Wise Men), the baptism of Jesus (Issa, Yeshua), and the wedding at Cana [6].
The Buddhist connection is that Jesus the Nazarene was considered a tulku (important incarnation of a significant spiritual figure) by Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhists, who sent a party to confirm his rebirth and invite him to Tibet, where indeed Jesus later visited, stayed, and trained for 18 "lost" years to recognize and develop his spiritual gifts and embark on his mission as a prophet, teacher or, as Christians would have it, God incarnate (a Hindu Avatar). This sort of search party of mysterious "Magi" from the East is sent out whenever a Rinpoche, Panchen Lama, or Dalai Lama is expected in a certain region of the earth. See Unmistaken Child for general details.
In Western Christianity, the feast commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child, and thus Jesus Christ's physical manifestation to the Gentiles [7, 8].
It is sometimes called Three Kings' Day, and in some traditions celebrated as Little Christmas [9] (like the longtime Christian Armenians, who may be Christians because Noah's Ark is rests around Mount Ararat).
Moreover, the feast of the Epiphany, in some denominations, also initiates the liturgical season of Epiphanytide [10, 11].
Eastern Christians, on the other hand, commemorate the baptism of Jesus (also called Epiphany) in the Jordan River [which is a kind of Holy Ganges in Northern Africa used for ablutions], seen as his manifestation to the world as the Son of God [6] [or devaputra, lit. "son born among the devas"]. The spot marked by Al-Maghtas in Jordan, adjacent to Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank, is considered to be the site of the baptism of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist [12, 13].
I leave you VP Elon Musk and Pres. JD Vance
The traditional date for the feast is January 6th (which is also the day every four years the U.S. Congress officially confirms a new president, except that time Trump called for an insurrection to take over the government, hang the VP, and rule like a dictator, according to video evidence compiled by a biased media).
However, since 1970 the celebration has been held in some countries on the Sunday after January 1. Those Eastern Churches that are still following the Julian calendar observe the feast on what, according to the internationally used Gregorian calendar, is 19 January [14], because of the current 13-day difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars [15]. The Alawites and the Middle Eastern Christians also observe the feast on January 19 [2, 3, 4].
In many Western Churches, the eve of the feast is celebrated as Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve) on January 5.[16][17] The Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday [18]. Epiphany (holiday)
Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
Who owns Mexico? That might go to the philanthropic Carlos Slim family of billionaires.
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(Luxury Zone) There's a fine line between being rich and ensuring all your children and their children's children will live just as luxuriously and opulently as you do. Such is the case with the ten richest families in the world.
Welcome to Luxury Zone. Mexican philanthropist Carlos Slim only makes $24K a month, so never mind his billions. This channel shares everything about luxury and helps viewers experience the billionaire lifestyle. It ranks the most expensive things in the world and has a look inside the lives of the wealthiest people on the planet.
Consider subscribing for inspiration and eat-your-heart-out experiences: bit.ly/2zR6U6c
Local tribal leaders call on Genocide Joe Biden to designate Chuckwalla National Monument in the Coachella Valley, Southern California (KESQ News Channel 3) Nov. 28, 2024: Read more: kesq.com.
Biden to visit California, expected to declare new national monument
(FOX 11 Los Angeles) Jan. 3, 2025: Pres. Genocide Joe Biden is coming to California today, as he's expected to announce a new national monument, the Chuckwalla National Monument, near Coachella (site of the famous festivals Stage Coach and Coachella) and Joshua Tree National Monument.
Biden to establish two new national monuments in California
(The Washington Examiner) Jan. 3, 2025: Pres. G-Joe B is expected to announce two new national monuments on tribal land in California within a few days, one of several actions meant to limit drilling taken just before Pres.-elect DJ Trump enters office. One of the national monuments will be the around 644,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California near Joshua Tree National Park. The second monument will be the approximately 200,000-acre Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California, The Washington Post reports. #biden #drill #fracking
A confession from the man who shot JFK | Confessions of an assassin | @DocoCentral
(Documentary Central) Dec. 15, 2024: The first prison interview of 1994 with former soldier and mob associate James E. Files (formerly Sutton), who confessed to being the man on the grassy knoll, who shot Pres. John F. Kennedy, with details of his involvement in clandestine activities involving the Mob and the CIA. Compare this first 1994 interview with the second 2003 interview and see how consistent the story remains after nine years.
Self-Portrait of a Scoundrel, the book by Chauncey Marvin Holt: Book Self-Portrait of a Scoundrel | Recht is krom
The first prison interview with former soldier and mob associate James E. Files, who confessed to being the man on the grassy knoll, who shot President John F. Kennedy, with details of his involvement in clandestine activities involving the mob and the CIA.
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#Documentary #jfkdocumentary #interview
A CIA Agent’s Stunning Confessions Before his Death | Spies, Hoods, and the Hidden Elite | DC
(Documentary Central) Nov. 17, 2024: See the other stunning JFK confession, recorded by Netherlands executive producer Willem Jan Dankbaar (bit.ly/415vhb0). Interviewed just days before his death, CIA contract agent and underworld figure Chauncey Marvin Holt chronicles his career in the twilight world of bootlegging, bookmaking, gunrunning, money laundering, espionage, and assassinations.
ABOUT: Documentary Central (DC) is the home for compelling documentaries tackling subjects like history, climate change, wildlife, conspiracy and more. Subscribe for more Documentary Central 👉 bit.ly/3yslxbL #Documentary #america #president
There's a thriving landscape of social media content, online forums, and entrepreneurs dedicated to helping men settle and sublimate the urge to masturbate to online porn (Joe Gough/NPR).
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Masturbation abstinence is popular online. Doctors and therapists are worried
(Lisa Hagen/NPR) "Nothing scares me. Nothing hurts me anymore," a young YouTuber (shown below) tells the camera as snowflakes cut across the frame. He is shirtless in a Michigan January, he tells viewers, to make a point about embracing discomfort in order to become a great, powerful man.
The YouTuber, who goes by the handle iamLucid, tells the camera he can stand the below-freezing temperature because he has been taking cold showers every day and, crucially, hasn't masturbated to pornography in a year.
"That's the most beta thing you can do. That's the weakest thing any man can do," he says.
The video is part of a thriving online landscape dedicated to helping men settle and sublimate the urge to masturbate.
Think about sex.
More than two decades of growing internet use has surfaced fears about the social and psychological impacts of nearly unfettered access to pornography. But many researchers and sex therapists worry that the online communities that have formed in response to these fears often endorse inaccurate medical information, exacerbate mental health problems and, in some cases, overlap with extremist and hate groups.
There are many variations on how and why members of these communities choose to abstain from masturbation. One of the central concepts in these communities is known as "nofap," a play on an onomatopoeic word for masturbation popularized on the notorious 4chan message boards.
The term "nofap" has come to encompass a set of unproven claims that not masturbating confers social and health benefits.
Masturbation abstinence communities emerged alongside the "manosphere," a collection of online spaces dedicated to the idea that males and masculinity are under threat from some forms of feminism.
Masturbation out of the manosphere (Joe Gough)
There's a large and active forum on Reddit that uses the name, as well as a company called NoFap LLC (nofap.com), which offers support groups for a fee and runs a popular forum on its website. But that company is just one part of a far larger community.
Others, including self-styled coaches, also use the term. They offer advice, services, and sometimes treatment programs to those struggling to reach their goal of not masturbating.
While some figures in this space are religious, most frame their advice as science-based forms of self-improvement or as a cure for pornography addiction, a popular concept that's disputed by scientists and researchers who study sexuality.
[Anyone who thinks "sex addiction" is make believe, go to a Sex Addicts Anonymous meeting and hear the depravity, compulsion, and inability to resist having sex in spite of major negative life consequences like prosecution, prison sentences, diseases (STIs, STDs, VDs), loss of family, relationships, self-control... This is much deeper than horniness or hormones. One sets off down a course having no idea about the pitfalls and traps. Drugs (and other dopamine hits) are almost sure to become part of the web that traps one.]
Measuring the online and offline influence of nofap content is difficult. A 2022 study in the International Journal of Impotence Research by a group of urologists who studied social media content found "semen retention" and its related hashtags to be the most popular men's health topic on TikTok and Instagram.
Unlike every other men's health topic they studied, none of the semen retention posts were coming from doctors.
What will no longer be censored in the future?
For those who believe they may be addicted to porn, the official NoFap LLC website suggests no masturbation for 90 days, during which the brain supposedly reboots like a computer.
Other claimed benefits of avoiding masturbation may include "superpowers," like more confidence and more romantic interest from women.
NoFap LLC says it is not anti-masturbation and it's not anti-porn, and today its creator says it is a peer-support group for people with problematic pornography use.
BEWARE: Monsters in the woods have needs, too.
"I have seen claims on social media saying that semen retention can boost your testosterone levels, cure erectile dysfunction, make you more manly, make you stronger, cure depression, make you more successful, clear your skin," says Ashley Winter, a urologist who has been publicly critical of nofap ideas. More
Podcast episode produced by Ariana Lee, edited by Brett Neely and Jenny Schmidt with help from Liana Simstrom and Irene Noguchi, engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez. Music contributed by Ramtin Arablouei. Executive producer Sami Yenigun
You can't tell me what to do, you're not my father
How is the intentional emission of semen achieved? It is not strictly physical. The mental component, relying as it does on the mental defilements (most broadly stated as lust, aversion/fear, and delusion), reinforces lust, desire, craving, obsession, grasping, clinging, desperation, and one fails to see the harm done to oneself, the harm to others, and the harm to both (to the greater community and world). Youths go from porn viewing to acting out in ways they would not have if not exposed to such material.
How do we know it's unskillful, unwholesome. "bad" karma? We know because of the definition of unskillful karma: deeds (actions of the body, speech, or mind) that are rooted in the three unwholesome roots: desire (greed, craving, lust), aversion (hate, disliking, fear), and delusion (wrong view, confusion, ignorance). We also know by the results -- suffering, disappointment, pain, not getting what one wants, getting what one does not want, lack of ever being fulfilled.
The symptoms may be mild -- resentment, anger, jealousy, envy, judgments against females -- or graduate to objectification, aggression, insensitivity, cruelty, treating people as less than human. It's a slippery slope. Who can think it's innocent? One may not realize how harmful it is or how deeply it wounds the psyche, but manipulation by the sex industry and sex traffickers is all part of it. Welcome to the world of Epstein, Hollywood, Diddy, porn stars, rap stars, high finance, political corruption, shame, humiliation, and the court system. And all for what? A bone with little blood smeared on it, remnants of flesh, and marrow gnawed on as if it could ever satisfy the hunger and thirst (lust and craving) it engenders. It's a trap. And perhaps only those who fall in ever realize it.
Lisa Hagen, Consider This, NPR, 2/3/24/ CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Golden Globes 2025 LIVE: Golden Globe winners speak backstage | 2025 Golden Globe Awards LIVE | N18G
(CNBC-TV18) This year’s awards season kicks off with big screen frontrunners such as The Brutalist, Wicked, and Conclave, while on the small screen, Shōgun and The Bear lead the way.
The 2025 Golden Globes ceremony takes place tonight. British stars including Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Cynthia Erivo, and Kate Winslet compete for top prizes alongside Timothée Chalamet, Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, and Colman Domingo.
The nominees were announced on Dec. 9: the divisive musical crime comedy Emilia Peréz leads the pack at 10 nominations, while Hulu’s The Bear dominates the TV categories.
Other films in contention for trophies include hit musical Wicked, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning Anora, and Brady Corbet’s epic drama The Brutalist, which was hailed a “masterpiece” after its festival premiere.
Stand-up comedian Nikki Glaser makes history as the first woman to host the Golden Globes solo. Her appointment comes after Jo Koy became the last-minute 2024 host, delivering a widely panned performance.
#GoldenGlobes2025 #GoldenGlobesWinners #Shogun Golden Globes 2025 LIVE: Golden Globe Winners Speak Backstage | 2025 Golden Globe Awards LIVE | CNBC TV18
Nikki Glaser takes on the Golden Globes
(CBS Sunday Morning) Dec. 29, 2024: On January 5, 2025, standup comic and super-roaster Nikki Glaser will host the Golden Globes on CBS – her biggest audience to date.
Correspondent Luke Burbank follows the comedian, who says she thrives on anxiety, as she prepares for the big night with her writing team.
The Golden Globes gig caps a year that saw the release of Glaser's acclaimed comedy special, "Someday You'll Die," and her fierce roasting of Tom Brady.
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